In theory, Texas Democrats and Republicans both are fighting for the same thing: increasing the number of visas for immigrants who earn a science, technology, engineering or medical doctorate in the U.S.

On paper, it’s a different story.

Republican and Democratic congressmen introduced two separate bills within the past week to prioritize visas for American-educated foreign graduate students in the STEM fields.

“We could boost economic growth and spur job creation by allowing American employers to more easily hire some of the most qualified foreign graduates of U.S. universities,” Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, said. “These students have the ability to start a company that creates jobs or come up with an invention that could jump-start a whole new industry.”

The STEM Jobs Act is labeled bipartisan, but Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo is the only Democrat out of 45 congressmen who cosponsored the legislation.

So why two bills with essentially the same purpose?

Compromise failed when cutting the 55,000 visas from the diversity visa lottery to make room for the new immigrants made its way into the bill, among other differences, Gonzalez said.

The lottery was created in 1990 to grant permanent residency to immigrants from countries with lower rates of immigration.

Democrats ran the other way and on Friday cranked out the Attracting the Best and the Brightest Act, which has a two-year expiration date, stricter university requirements, equal pay for immigrants with the same job qualifications and doesn’t cut the diversity lottery.

Aside from Cuellar — who said in a statement that “in order to be competitive in today’s global economy, we have to provide immigrant students with this type of aid” — Democrats won’t take it with the add-on.

The Best and the Brightest Act was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. The STEM Jobs Act was introduced Tuesday and is scheduled to be voted on by the House on Thursday through a suspension of the rules. It needs a two-thirds vote to pass, so it’s a no-go if it doesn’t have bipartisan support.

With the election grinding Congress to a halt and Lame Duck season approaching, it’s a messy end to legislation that started out with hopes of compromise.

“I think everybody would like to get from A to B,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just a question of ironing out differences and not creating a detour.”